I arrived in Jeon-ju without any accommodation, I'd looked on the internet and anything that was available was pricey. Jeon-ju is a very touristy Hanok (traditional wooden home) village, also famous for its culinary delights. After wandering the streets for an hour or so, it appeared that all Hanoks had no room in the Inn.
I was getting desperate and fed up. Walking down a small alley a Korean guy with a Labrador dog said hello to me. So I took the opportunity of finding someone who could speak English and asked him if he knew somewhere. He had a guesthouse but it was also full. He phoned around his mates and found me a room, although not been on a position to haggle, I managed to negotiate a £6 reduction over the phone via my interpreter. Within minutes the guy pulled up in his car and took me to his guesthouse.
Once again it was a bed in the floor job. It was just within my price range and very near the heart of the village. I wanted to stay 2 or 3 nights but the guy only had availability for one night. But that was something I was going to worry about the next day
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| Another bed on the floor 'traditional style' |
As it was getting late so I headed for the night market to sample some of the local food. The first place I saw had a huge queue, so I thought I'd get in it and have whatever they were dishing up. When I got close to the front of the queue I found it was selling a paper bowl full of steak, chips, veg and a lovely red wine gravy. Not quite a local specialty but it was bloody lovely.
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| Flame grilled steak for supper |
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| Steak and chips for tea, a nice change |
I had a wonder around the very crowded night market seeing what other food was on offer for following nights. It was packed and walking through was slow, especially around the Karaoke stand right in the middle which drew huge crowds.
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| Jeonju night market draws in the crowds |
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| Karaoke Station at Jeonju Night Market |
On the way back I passed Pungnam-mun an impressive stone and wooden gateway. It had an excellent light show projected into it. I watched for a while and the noticed a few youngsters had got some take out beers from the shop and were watching on. A little bit hooligan like, but I bought a couple of hite beers and joined them for the rest of the show.
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| Pungnam-mun Gate Jeon-ju |
I had a surprisingly good nights sleep on the floor in the guesthouse. First job was to find another place. This proved very difficult, place after place had no availability, it was Saturday and the place was heaving with Korean weekend tourists.
I went to the tourist information who couldn't speak any English so they phoned another office and I was to try a 3 way conversation across languages. The girl who could speak English was given a near opposite task for finding a private room, in or near the village with just a smallish budget to play with.
I ended up staying at the tourist information girls mates house (who could speak a bit of English). It was a Milliners shop, first floor an exclusive hat shop, 2nd floor a handmade hat manufacturers, 3rd floor a hat museum, 4th floor a kitchen and a spare bedroom which did a right job for me for a couple of nights.
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| Jeon-ju Catholic Church |
All that out of the way I was look around the village. It was really nice place just to wander about and see what was going on. Many of the local youngsters hired traditional dress which added to the atmosphere of the place. Whilst it had very much a feel of a place built for tourism with it's new looking traditional houses, it was just what I wanted for a few days. In fact I like touristy places now and again and if the touristy place is for native tourists then all the better. You can learn lots about the culture of a country when you see the people in a relaxed holiday mode.
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| A performance through the streets |
I paid the couple of pounds entrance fee to the biggest attraction the Gyeonggijeon, a walled complex with traditional houses and paintings. More young couples in traditional clothes taking selfies everywhere you looked. It was labelled the best attraction so I'd paid in, and it was OK.
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| New feel with a traditional design |
There was a cultural performance for the unveiling of some books I think. Prior to the performance I was sat with a lady from Hong Kong who could speak a little Korean and this is what she made out from the leaflet, The performance started with a couple of jester type characters, mainly spoken and I had not a clue what was going on. One of the guys had a basket of things, one of which he came over and gave to me. I think I picked out the word ebay as he planted the green rice cakes on my lap. The lady from Hong Kong said I'd won them in an auction which was quite impressive when I didn't even realise an auction was taking place.
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| Cultural Jesters |
I opened the rice cakes, took one out and passed the rest down the line. The performance was boring, during the introduction of the local dignitaries I made a sharp exit before I had to pay for my auction prize.
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| Rice cakes, 'won' in an auction |
At night Jeon-ju was much the same as by day. Again it was pleasant to stroll around, not too much in the way of drinking or nightlife near the Hanok Village. It was nice to graze on food from the many stalls and wonder around.
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| Catholic Cathedral heavenly lit up by a full moon |
Away from the village there was a dancing competition. This was entertaining to watch the contestants bust some cracking moves on a stage.
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| Jeon-ju dance off |
The traditional foods in Jeon-ju didn't really happen, most restaurants were catering huge dishes for 3 or 4 so mainly I ended up having various street snacks. I did force myself out for a traditional breakfast one morning. The place I chose was #1 on Trip Advisor and it had clearly geared up for tourists as the menu even had an English section, some of the first written or spoken English in a couple of days. It was maybe a bit much for breakfast, and I certainly got too carried away when adding the chili. It was a nice soup, very filling and reasonably priced.
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| Soup for breakfast - just the job |
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| Bean sprout soup with all the trimmings |
The local specialty when it comes to alcohol was a slightly alcoholic milk drink or a significantly more potent Soju, (rice wine) of which I had sampled earlier in Busan. I didn't try the milk, I didn't fancy it as most of the stalls had it on display on the street in the hot sun. I did have a night on the Soju which did wonders to make me sleep but it was a big struggle to get moving the next day.
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| Alcoholic Milk |
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Jeon-ju Soji - wicked stuff
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So did Jeon-ju do it for me as a tourist destination? Yes, it hit the spot, I was pleased I went on a weekend when it was busiest with Korean tourists. It is true it is very touristy and yes it had almost a false, made up feel, but I liked it. After all I am a tourist. One thing it was I must say was very expensive. everything was double or triple the prices elsewhere in South Korea.
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| Entrance to the village |
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| Ladies in traditional dress |
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| The traditional style roofs of the Hanok Village |
So it came time for me to move on. I had 8 nights left of my trip, having a few options of places to visit next it was on the bus to the train station I decided to go all the way north to Seoul and spend the rest of my time in the capital.
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| Jeon-ju Train Station |
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| The fast train to Seoul |
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